Philadelphia to host Creating Change conference next year

The 29th Creating Change Conference will take place on Jan. 18-22, 2017 in Philadelphia, the National LGBTQ Task Force announced today (Thursday, March 31).

“For more than a quarter century, we’ve trained more than 40,000 activists and community leaders from across the country and elsewhere in the world,” said Russell Roybal, National LGBTQ Task Force deputy executive director. “Next year’s conference will be bigger and better. As we continue to advance and grow, we look forward to rolling out new changes and improvements. We encourage all who are able to attend to join us in Philadelphia!”

The changes presumably refer to the controversies during this year’s conference in Chicago.

A Jewish group had planned a Shabbat service on Friday night at Creating Change with guests from Jerusalem Open House, an LGBT community center in Jerusalem. After three people complained about the appearance of Israelis at Creating Change because of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, National LGBTQ Executive Director Rea Carey canceled the reception.

The planned reception was then re-instated, only for the service to be disrupted by protestors. You can read Dallas Voice’s story on the incident here.

Protesters also shut down a panel put together by the National Black Justice Coalition featuring cis men who are attracted to trans women. A trans woman who claimed one of the panelists was an abuser instigated the protest. That man doesn’t have any such charges pending against him, and he is about to file a suit for defamation.

After the incidents, Carey apologized and promised changes at future conferences.